


Welcome to Auradon Prep

by caffeine-vaccine (HashtagLEH)



Series: Tactics From the Isle (And How They Carry Over Into Auradon) [3]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Audrey & Ben Friendship (Disney: Descendants), Ben Tries (Disney: Descendants), F/F, Girls Kissing, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Movie: Descendants (2015), Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-OT4, Protective Ben (Disney: Descendants), Protective Jay (Disney), Protective Mal (Disney), Self-Esteem Issues, d1 rewrite, pre-OT5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22247689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HashtagLEH/pseuds/caffeine-vaccine
Summary: Jay was the first person to step out of the car, because he was their (un)official  protector and it was unspoken but known by all of them that he would be the first to face any possible dangers.Carlos was next, climbing past Evie to stand next to Jay. Evie and Mal were much faster, one coming right after the other so that they stood with Carlos and Jay at roughly the same time. They all stood awkwardly, struggling not to roll their eyes as the band finished their song with a flourish.“Welcome to Auradon Prep!”
Relationships: Audrey & Ben (Disney: Descendants), Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil, Evie/Mal (Disney), pre- Ben/Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos de Vil
Series: Tactics From the Isle (And How They Carry Over Into Auradon) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600366
Comments: 5
Kudos: 327





	Welcome to Auradon Prep

Mal tapped her fingers against her knee, staring out the window as the Isle passed them by, grubby faces of the other children watching the limo take them away.

She had shared her plan with the other three the night before after leaving Uma’s restaurant, and they were all more than on board with it, even with how nervous they were for repercussions from their parents. It made something warm somewhere in Mal’s chest, that they trusted her so much that they were willing to defy their parents so openly. The warmth made her wonder if she was getting sick.

She was nervous though, that she might fail after all. Maleficent always seemed so far above her – the fact that Mal had only earned the first three letters of the name was just proof that she wasn’t as Evil as her mom. Not as good at her plans.

She couldn’t fail, though. And not just because that would mean giving the territory to Uma, leaving Mal and her gang with nothing. But she wanted the best for herself and her gang, and everyone else who lived on the Isle unfairly.

“You’re looking a little washed out,” Evie’s voice broke into her thoughts even as a makeup brush appeared in her field of vision. “Let me help you out.”

“Ew, stop,” Mal grimaced, pushing Evie’s hand away when she tried to apply the brush to her cheek. “I’m plotting.”

Evie sighed and settled back into her seat, well used to Mal’s attitude toward making her wear makeup. “Well, it’s not very attractive,” she said lightly. Mal rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue, because Evie was eating some kind of candy and she didn’t want to discourage that at all.

The drive was a little over an hour, with Jay and Carlos trying every kind of candy on display. Mal didn’t discourage it, because that was clean food, and eventually she ate something that was sweet but also burned her mouth in a weird way and cleared her airways strangely. She liked it though, and shoved a handful of the little white and red candies in her jacket pocket for later. Strangely, it also soothed the knots in her stomach somewhat. She wondered if it was some kind of medicine like had only been heard about on the Isle, and why it would be with the candy if it was.

Nearer to the end of the drive though, Carlos and Jay were getting antsy in the enclosed space and things in the car disappeared a lot more rapidly. Mal knew that they were pocketing random things, but she didn’t stop them there either, because it wasn’t like they didn’t fit among all the zippered pockets that Evie included in their clothes, and if the people of Auradon didn’t expect them to steal what they could from them on their way over, they were much more stupid than even Mal had thought.

The forest they drove through eventually began to thin out and become lawns and houses, before finally Auradon Prep became visible through the window. Abruptly the white candies seemed for naught as Mal’s stomach clenched again at the sight of all the students and probable teachers waiting for them. There was even a band, playing some kind of happy, chipper song for them as they pulled up. Mal wrinkled her nose distastefully at it, looking over when a hand grabbed hers and seeing Evie’s nervous expression.

“They’re going to hate me,” she whispered, practically inaudible over the sounds that filtered in through the window.

“Evie, you’re a princess, they’re not going to hate you,” Mal said, rolling her eyes. As the car pulled up the drive, she shrugged. “But at the very least, we already know you, and _we_ don’t hate you.”

Evie blew out a slow breath, carefully putting down the candy on the stick in her other hand. “Maybe I should stay away from that,” she mumbled.

“Here,” Mal said, pulling one of her candies from her pocket and holding it out. “These are better.”

Evie shook her head, saying nothing, lips tight. Mal stared for a moment, before shrugging. “More for me, then,” she said carelessly, opening the candy with her free hand and popping it in her mouth. “You want a kiss for good luck?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, because Evie never denied her kisses, and pressed her lips unyieldingly to Evie’s. Evie’s lips were tight for a bare moment, before she sighed and melted into Mal, clenching grip on her hand softening.

Mal took advantage of the sigh though, and slipped her tongue into Evie’s mouth with it open. A moment later, she pulled back, smirking victoriously.

Evie scowled at her half-heartedly, now sucking on the candy that Mal had transferred to her own mouth.

“I win,” Mal sang, looking unbearably smug.

“Of course you do,” Evie grumbled while Carlos and Jay laughed at how she’d been played. She squeezed Mal’s hand though, a quiet – though unneeded – reassurance that she wasn’t actually upset.

The limo pulled to a halt in front of the battalion of people, and Mal gave them a slightly tight grin. “Showtime!”

Evie caught sight of Carlos, and immediately snatched a couple of tissues from the box sitting forgotten by the candy.

“Mouth,” she ordered, handing him the tissues, which he accepted without complaint, wiping the unidentified brown candy that littered his face. Her eyes went over the rest of them, examining them for flaws, before she nodded once, shortly, approving their exit to stand in front of Auradon.

Jay was the first person to step out of the car, because he was their (un)official protector and it was unspoken but known by all of them that he would be the first to face any possible dangers.

Carlos was next, climbing past Evie to stand next to Jay. Evie and Mal were much faster, one coming right after the other so that they stood with Carlos and Jay at roughly the same time. They all stood awkwardly, struggling not to roll their eyes as the band finished their song with a flourish.

“Welcome to Auradon Prep!” a chipper older woman announced more than welcomed, but it wasn’t exactly rude. Mal was grudgingly, slightly impressed with how she managed it. “I’m Fairy Godmother, Headmistress.”

Mal brightened immediately. “ _The_ Fairy Godmother?” she questioned. “As in, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo?”

“Bibbidy-bobbidi – you know it,” the woman beamed.

“Yeah, I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella, when you just appeared – out of nowhere! – with that sparkly wand, and warm smile.” She smiled at the Fairy Godmother, who only smiled back but didn’t get the hint at the question that she was asking. “And that sparkling wand,” she prodded, keeping her smile fixed firmly in place and fighting the urge to roll her eyes.

Finally she seemed to get it. “That was a long time ago,” she said. “And as I always say, ‘don’t focus on the past or you’ll miss the future!’”

Mal fought the urge to grimace at not only the lack of information about the wand but also at the terrible line, complete with hand motions. She could practically feel the disdain from the other three, even though she wasn’t looking at them. She only smiled politely, hoping that they were doing the same because they had plans here and they couldn’t see them being screwed up because they couldn’t play at being nice and friendly.

“It’s so good to finally meet you all,” the boy standing beside the Fairy Godmother said, stepping forward. “I’m Ben.”

“ _Prince_ Ben,” the girl who had been on the other side of Fairy Godmother corrected, stepping forward as Ben had. She looked over at the VK’s, looking wary even as she told them, “Soon to be king.”

“This is Audrey,” Ben introduced.

“ _Princess_ Audrey,” the girl corrected again. “Aurora’s my mother. You know? Sleeping…”

“…Beauty!” Mal interrupted, irritated already with the girl just by knowing who she was. “Yeah. I’ve heard the name.”

“Ben and Audrey are going to show you all around,” Fairy Godmother said with a friendly smile to all of them. “And I will see you tomorrow.”

The band followed the Headmistress out of the courtyard and away from them, leaving the four to stand awkwardly in front of the prince and princess standing across from them, smiling in a welcoming way. Mal didn’t look at the princess, because she was pretty sure if she looked at her perfectly curled hair or perfectly straight white teeth or pink dress with dainty little heels for too long that she would just say to screw the plan and kill the spawn of Leah and Stephan herself.

After a moment, the prince seemed to gather himself – probably due to the elbow Audrey shoved gently into his side – and walked toward them, saying, “It is so, so, so good to finally meet you all.”

He was clearly going to give Jay a handshake, and Mal looked over to see the alarmed look flit across her second’s face before his fist instinctively went up. Then he seemed to recognize himself, and quickly turned it into a slightly-too-hard-to-be-friendly punch to the shoulder at the last second, rather than a clobber to the face to knock him over. Ben looked startled, but Jay immediately grinned at him, affecting ignorance at the casual violence.

Blinking, the prince moved to Mal, who accepted the handshake much more willingly, though she couldn’t totally fault Jay for the immediate defensive maneuver. She probably would have done the same, had she been the first one the prince had gone toward.

Ben stared at her though for just a bit too long to be comfortable, and she gave him a weird look, uncertain how to identify the gaze. Ben jerked slightly like he was startled, looking away from her, even while he still shook her hand.

“This is a momentous occasion!” he said, voice almost a shout, and Mal startled back at the suddenness of it before chiding herself mentally for her jumpiness. She snatched her hand away pointedly from Ben’s as the prince moved to Carlos, who accepted the handshake a bit more warily, just as uncertain as she was how to figure out that stare. “And one that I hope will go down in history as the day our two peoples began to heal.” He finished this last statement again like it was an announcement, looking up and off at nothing in particular as he shook Evie’s hand.

Mal fought not to gag at the pretentious, rehearsed feeling of the words. This prince was too much – he needed to loosen up, or he’d be living up to the nickname “Bore-adon” that the Isle kids had bestowed on the country years ago.

“Or,” Mal piped in snarkily, “The day you showed four peoples where the bathrooms are.”

Looking immediately sheepish, Ben moved away from Evie to stand in front of Mal while he spoke. “A little bit over the top?”

Mal nodded, giving him a sarcastic little smile. “A little more than a little bit.”

“Well, so much for my first impression,” the boy said abashedly. He was staring at her again, but this time Mal looked back, trying to figure him out.

“Okay!” Audrey interrupted the growing stare-off between them and tugged on Ben’s arm. “How about a tour? Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Ben decided, looking away from Mal again and turning to lead them down the path. Audrey’s hand stayed on Ben’s arm as they walked, like he was escorting her.

They followed the prince down the path, and Mal turned to give them all a look – one that they all immediately read as, ‘can you believe this guy?’ Jay shrugged, gesturing ahead of them, because the distance between them all was growing and Mal was the one leading the way at the moment, with Evie right behind her and Jay and Carlos bringing up the rear, watching their six.

***

Okay, so Auradon was pretty amazing, Mal thought later that day as they sat down for dinner. Not amazing that she didn’t want to quit her plan to take over, but amazing that they had all severely underestimated how _much_ there was over here. Mal couldn’t even fathom it – the amount of food they had in the cafeteria at dinner time could have fed every single person on the Isle three meals a day for an entire week.

It was excessive, and it made Evie nervous. But she was curious enough at the amount of new foods to try that Mal was able to convince her to take at least a bite of most of the things in front of them. It was a good way to eat, though Carlos had found something called “peanut butter bars” that he had decided were the best thing since creation and had only a big pile of those for dinner.

The spread was amazing, and Mal discovered things that she hadn’t even _heard_ of. Things like carrots glazed in something sweet, and were soft, but not like they were rotten. Things like chicken noodle cass-erole (that was the word, right?), which seemed to be a lot of ingredients thrown together and baked. Things like Jell-O, which was apparently like jam but not really. She didn’t really understand it when Doug tried explaining it, but it was sweet and slid down her throat easily. She discovered other things like hamburgers, which apparently _weren’t_ made from ham? She was a little confused on that one, but it tasted good. She liked the red jam that came in the bottle that went on it – Doug said it was ketchup, not jam, but she would reserve judgment on that – but she didn’t care for the yellow one.

Jay had found chicken legs, which the Auradon kids called “drumsticks”, which Mal also didn’t understand, and he was amazed that there was so much meat on them. Sometimes they got these in on the barges, but there was usually only meat at each end of the bone. The bulbous end excited Jay enough that he had grabbed ten of them and was eating them as fast as one usually would drink water.

“Hi!” Ben’s voice greeted them halfway through dinner. “How is everything going with you guys? Getting settled in alright?”

Jay gave him a thumbs up, mouth stuffed full of chicken, though he scooted just an inch or two away when Ben sat down beside him, not wanting to be too close.

“Looking forward to school tomorrow?” Ben asked them, snagging a roll from the bread basket in the center of the table.

“It’s school,” Mal was the one to say – derisively, of course.

Ben laughed and shrugged at her words. “I suppose you’re right,” he allowed. “How do you like your dorms?”

They all made separate expressions of displeasure – a scowl, a frown, a wrinkled nose – but Evie was the one to voice what they had all been wondering. “Why are we separated?”

Ben blinked at them, uncertain at the confusion. “Erm, because boys’ and girls’ dorms are separate,” he explained. “It’s not just separating you four – it’s just a school policy.”

“Why are they separate?” Mal demanded. “What are you all afraid of with boys and girls sharing a dorm? It’s not like they’re not big enough.”

Ben turned a little red, and coughed awkwardly. “Well, the school is…a school. So they don’t want any…intimacy happening on the grounds.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have to worry about that with Isle kids, right?” Mal pointed out, quite reasonably in her opinion. “We don’t believe in ‘intimacy’, or whatever the hell you want to call it. Isle kids don’t love.”

Ben blinked at her, red fading from his face in the face of her statement. “You don’t…of course you love! It’s just – not supposed to happen at school.”

Jay narrowed his eyes at the blond beside him. “No, we don’t,” he hissed venomously. To his credit, Ben didn’t lean away in fear, only staring at them all worriedly. “Love is weakness, no matter what bullshit you people in Auradon like to spew.”

“Guys, I think he means no sex,” Carlos told them matter-of-factly before it could devolve into an argument. “You don’t have to worry about that, Prince Ben – we won’t be having sex with each other.”

Ben’s face was red again, but he nevertheless pressed on, “That’s fine, but it’s still a policy not to have co-ed dorms. I can’t really do anything for you there – it’s a school rule, not one I can affect as prince or even as king.”

“Why aren’t they worried about me kissing Evie?” Mal demanded. “Or Jay kissing Carlos? How are you supposed to stop that?”

Ben sighed. “I really couldn’t tell you,” he admitted. “It’s just one of those things that no one questions, so it stays.”

“Oh, so you’re just following the pattern of how no one questioned the state of the Isle,” Mal sneered. “Tell me, did Auradon ever send _actual_ supplies other than trash, or has it always just been leftover garbage, seen perfectly fit for the outcasts from Auradon, who are of course nothing but trash themselves?”

“Mal, chill,” Evie whispered fiercely, eyes flitting about, seeing the number of students looking their way – even the ones out of earshot. They all felt exposed here, in a den of wolves ready to devour them, and it made her nervousness even worse when their leader drew attention like this.

Mal immediately understood and came back to herself, recognizing again where they were and what their plan was, and arguing publicly with the prince was not cohesive with that plan. She quickly switched tactics, not visibly letting on that she’d heard Evie but coming back to her original point.

“C’mon, Princey,” she sighed. “It’s not like we haven’t shared a hideout together before, and it would make all of us feel a lot more comfortable if we weren’t separated so far from each other. Isn’t there anything that can be done so that we are all at least in the same hallway?”

Ben gazed back at her, expression concerned, before examining the other three, who weren’t looking at him but were held tensely like they were expecting another denial, like they were prepared to be disappointed.

And Ben didn’t want that. He had brought them here to bring about some changes, but he didn’t want them to be uncomfortable in the meantime. They weren’t prizes or icons to be held up for the rest of Auradon to see – they were kids too, and they needed to be happy in Auradon or nothing would change. He was a little nervous about what the four might get up to with a shared dorm, but like Mal had said, they had shared a hideout before (which he wanted to know more about, but now wasn’t the time). He also didn’t want them secluding themselves from everyone else, and he was a little afraid that if they shared a dorm that aside from classes they would never come out of there.

But upon reflection, what they wanted made sense. He had gathered enough from the little time spent around them that they had actually been in their own gang on the Isle, and that they were the only ones in it. So they were used to safety in numbers – and by now, they were clearly their own little family. And surely Fairy Godmother would be able to understand that? It was a special situation, after all.

“I’ll talk with the Fairy Godmother, see what I can do,” he promised.

They all relaxed somewhat at that, and slowly began to return to their food. None of them thanked him, which he was beginning to notice was a running theme, but Mal did give him a short nod of approval, and he thought that might be enough.


End file.
